Harvest in 2011

So  my mom is a very smart lady.  She has farmed for many years and knows when it is time to get everything out of the garden.  She believes it is this week, there has been a touch of frost and nobody is into dragging blankets on and off those blessed tomatoes and cucumbers.  We hardly want to eat the damn things anymore.  Anyway the day is Wednesday, Wednesday is  'Harvest Day'.  I get Kenzie off to school and proceed to get Kaida ready for the big morning of picking and playing in the dirt.  Grampa calls in the middle of this|"yeah, what time you coming?"  "9:30am" I say "OK, I'll be ready!!"  So now there is crunch to get moving because 9:30 my mom's time and 9:30 Murray's time is very different.  Kaida is trying to get ready but her bag o fun's are in the Honda that Cory took.  She can't be expected to work in the Garden without her journal, special pencil, ice cream lip gloss and green cell phone.  We rush to the school, get the keys from Dad, get said essentials, return keys.  Shoot, it's 9:45am, how bad is the twitch going to be...

Kaida and I arrive at the garden, Murray is there and the rotortiller is poised and ready to go.  "Where's Mom?"  "Oh she had a massage this morning."  Like I said, my mom is one smart lady.  Who else can organize a work bee you won't be at. 
During the morning there lots of laughs and teasing.  Kaida has two good arms so was not spared from Grampas "can you give me a hand".  Mom arrived half way and got busy. There was a Popsicle break and we all had lunch after.  No, not cucumber sandwiches as we are quite sick of them!

Harvest 2011!

She's a Survivor

I have called my mom many things over the years. But the word I think most accurately describes her is 'Survivor'.

She has survived growing up in Muskow, Sask.
She has survived High School in Fort Qu'Appelle.
She has survived Muriel.
She has survived finding her husband caught in a round baler.
She has survived a man without arms and newborn. (the cutest newborn ever!)
She has survived the 'farming' years.
She has survived living on the same farm as her in- laws.
She has survived Murray.
She has survived the 'skiing' years.
She has survived the 'strawberry' years.
She has survived Brad getting his first motorbike.
She has survived me getting my license.
She has survived my teenage years. Sorry mom, I'm getting my payback...
She has survived the selling of the farm.
She has survived losing both her parents and becoming an orphan.
She has survived building a new house.
She has survived Murray.
She has survived the move to town.
She has survived my brother. OMG she is still surviving my brother!
She has survived becoming a Grandmother, and she does it wonderfully.
She has survived Murray.
She has survived my 'trapped in a closet' incident.

And last night we were grateful to honour her for surviving Cancer. Thank you mom for surviving everyday and making the rest of us stronger. I for one have needed you to get through many of my survival moments and couldn't have done it without you.

One very LONG night

The thoughts going through my head as I am trapped in the Town Office for 11 hours!

 

6:23pm - I call Kirk and find out Cathy is at the High School.  Great I say, I am heading there right now to put some MOM'S Pantry in the deep freeze.

6:24pm - I am carrying the vacuum down the stairs at the Town Office.  The vacuum falls off my shoulder and pulls the door shut. 'Shit' I know immediately that I am trapped down in the basement of the town office since the door has a deadbolt on it that locks immediately. 

6:25pm - I find a nail and a paper clip and I start trying to make one of the door locks open.  The is a side door to the outside, locked with a dead bold.  No paper clip is going to open this!  There is a door upstairs to Sharon Labatt's art studio.  I work away at that lock for some time but can't get it to open. 

6:55pm - I know the library closes at 7pm so I will just yell really loud and bang on this side window, the librarian will hear me and get a key and get  me out of here.

6:56pm- I watch the library lights until I see the lights turn out.

7:00pm- I start yelling and screaming Hello as loud as I can while banging on the window.

7:01pm - Librarian drives away.

7:02pm- Well now I think that I am definitely going to miss my SCC meeting and I really needed to go to this one.  I have a couple of things on the agenda I wanted to address.  At least I have made it VERY clear that I am planning to attend the meeting.  I have told the Vice Principal that I am for sure coming but I might be late so leave the agenda with her.  I tell Lyndi I am going to be there so she is going to bring  me some leaf cookie cutters.  I rarely miss a meeting so Tami will think it is really weird if I don't show up.  I wonder if I will have to wait until 9pm for the search party to start or if they will stop the meeting and head out to find me.

8:00pm - Boy I hope I don't have to be here much longer.  If I stand still I can hear the mice downstairs. No standing still for me. I will get a workout in.  Oh the running, jumping jacks, push ups, squats, leg raises!

9:00pm - Well someone will be here shortly.

9:30pm - I am sure Tami will be phoning to see why I wasn't at the meeting. I hope Cory has the good  sense to answer the phone for once.

9:45pm- Kirk has asked Cathy about the meeting and my call. It was probably a high point of his day.   Cathy will be on skype by now and asking why I wasn't at the meeting.  Cory will at least pay attention to that since he obviously hasn't answered Tami's call. 

10:00pm - Well, I guess I will have to wait until 11pm. Cory knows that is our cut off and if I am not home by then he will come to find me.

10:25- Every day when I clean these buildings there is some drunk hanging out around here.  Why are there no drunks out here tonight?

11:30pm - boy he is taking a long time to get here.  I am freezing cold now, I start to put garbage bags over my head to keep my body heat in. When he gets here I am not going to clean the RCMP, they can just fire me.

12:00am- OK, nobody is coming tonight.  I am going to try to stay warm, maybe sleep, and wait till morning.

12:10am- I really have to pee!  If I pee, maybe I can fall asleep.  There is a garbage can downstairs and all my extra garbage bags and toilet paper.  Well I've partied at the flats and been to Cypress, I can do this.

1:00am - Shit that MOM's Pantry is thawing in my car.

2:00am- I sit on a chair, with a roll of paper towel on my lap as a pillow.  Lean forward and sleep.

2:45 - the longest I have gone without looking at my watch.  I'm freezing!  Back up and running on the spot.

3:30am - I could break this window with the vacuum.  Then climb out and walk somewhere to use the phone.  Not a great idea.  The window is small and high.  I will probably get cut up climbing out. Then I will be outside at 3:30am bleeding without a car.  How is that better than this?  I wait.

4:00am - if those buggers are sitting around the table eating breakfast before anyone notices that I am not home I am going to kill them.

4:15am - Kaida will be up in 2 hours, I can make it another 2 hours.  God I'm cold!

5:00am- "her keys are on the counter"  OMG! I hear voices.  HELLO, HELLO, HELLO, "she's over here"  Cory comes running down the corner and I have never been so happy to see him.  I am immediately struck with embarrassment and shame for what I have just done to my loved ones.  Cory is shaking, I can see that in the dark through this window.   My dad is rocked and calling my mom on his cell phone immediately, my Auntie Bev is crying, 2 RCMP members are relived they have found me alive.  Cory is still shaking and fumbling around with his cell phone.  I tell him that he needs to go to Lyndi's and get the key.  He leaves.  I want the police to go home, I'm fine!  Dear God, please don't let this call be in the Fort Times.  My dad tells me my mom is a crying wreck.  I was cold and shivering before but now I am overwhelmed with emotions and shaking. 

5:20am- Cory gets back with the key and opens the door.  My dad comes over and says  he has to hug me and I see tears streaming down his face.  He hugs me for the 3rd time in my adult life. Cory hugs me.  We are all crying now.  I just want the police to go home. I'm fine. 

I find Kirk, Cathy, my mom and Tami  all at my house. Also a little post traumatic.  I am sooo sorry everyone.  Thank you for being there for Cory during this couple of hours of panic.  We are so blessed to have so many people who love us that we can call at 4am. I just wish that maybe a few less people had been called :)

 

This is were I hung out for 11 hours of my life and the lock that has been removed!

The town office staff felt really bad for what happened.  So bad in fact that they bought me a bouquet of flowers, and this lovely emergency survivial blacket.  I hope I never need to use this!!

Dancing Girls

Here are my beautiful dancing girls. Kenzie is taking her first year of tap dancing and Kaida is in a Combo class. She takes tap and ballet but prefers the ballet. The big recital is tomorrow and I just know they are going to be the cutest kids on stage. (in my unbiased opinion of course!)

Moon Sand Fun!

For any parents out there that want to really show there kids a good time and explore their creativity you must get Moon Sand. It is the finest coloured sand ever and can so easily be molded into really cool structures and figures. We received our Moon Sand from the girls fun Uncle Ryan and Auntie Christa. My kids have only been allowed to play it occasionally. It is not a daily go to activity for sure. But eventually after they have asked to play with moon sand and I have felt the dread and horror serge through my body a couple of times I wearily bring out the sand. I have to admit I love the feel of the too and usually get quite caught up in the building of creatures, volcanoes, and zoo animals.

It is when the moon sand festivities come to an end and there is a fine dusting of sand on all over the table, all the chairs, the counters, in every crease of the kids clothes, their hair, the entire floor, the mats, the window sill, and any other unsuspecting horizontal surface that I remember why moon sand is hidden behind the pull-up box right next to the 'easy' bake oven!!

As I vacuum the fun I take comfort in knowing that soon, very soon, my sweet niece Vaya will be lucky to have fun Auntie Holly buy her Moon Sand to explore her creativity.

A Geocaching we will go...

Cory, our resident adventurer, has introduced us to geocaching.  He very calculatedly (as everything he does is) took the kids out by themselves first.  He made the hiking exciting and the searching for the cache a big, fun treasure hunt.  Of course the girls came home thrilled with their adventure and begging mommy to try geocaching.  There is nothing sweeter than those little faces saying the word 'geocaching'!  So the next day we headed out as a family with 3 sites programmed into the GPS and started our hike at Echo Park.  Because of the flooding this year we had to drive through some water between Standing Buffalo and the Park which proved to be pretty exciting in itself. 

Kenzie and I shared the responsibility of holding the GPS to get us to the correct quadrants..  She is excellent at watching the numbers and making sure they are getting smaller and that we are getting closer.  When we were within 1meter of the cache the real hunt began. When I saw the ice cream pail that was our treasure I race to it and snatched out from under the bench where it was hidden.  As I proudly made eye contact with Cory he disappointingly said "I usually let the kids find it".  I felt a little sheepish but I didn't let that overshadow my pride.  Inside each cache are trinkets and a log book to sign.  The cache etiquette is to write your name in log book and write what you have taken and what you have left behind.  The girls have obtained some bracelets, stones, dog tags and puppy figurine in exchange for little toy dinosaurs and key chains. 

We will definitely go geocaching again, maybe even venture out of our little part of the world.  Although Cory and the kids think it would be find to geocache in Mexico, I may just wait for them by the pool there.

 

Easter Eggs

Kaida was totally into the Egg decorating this year.  I guess when we waited for her to go down for a nap in previous years contributed to her 'not being into it!'  Well she has given up her nap and joined us in egg decorating and made some beautifully decorated pieces.

Kenzie did another fine job of colouring her eggs as well. This year she was interested in what would happen if she put the egg in one colour and then into another colour.  She guessed correctly most of the time.  Kindergarten has made her brilliant.

Pop bottle Barbie

Kaida's latest obsession is Barbie (thanks Raegan!) and most recently  Barbie and the Fairy Secret.  So today when we were in the Bargain Shop getting Owen's birthday card and Kaida found Barbie and the Fairy Secret doll she HAD to have it.  She begged shortly but it was a solid No to the $26.99 doll and she started to cry real, sad tears.  She was heartbroken and the nice lady at the till was almost going to buy her the doll herself.  It was a sad day for Kaida.

On the drive home Kenzie remembered that she was 'owed' some pop bottle money for helping me shovel the Credit Union one day.  She told Kaida she could have the pop bottle money for the Barbie.  So there went any plans I had for the next hour.

We came home and the 3 of us set to work in the garage getting all the bottles gathered up.  We collected 8 bags of recycling and headed to Sarcan.  The girls carried the bottles in and collected $28.64 for their labour.  Kaida told everyone at Sarcan where the money was going with cutest little excited jumps and squeals. 

We headed to The Bargain Shop one hour later all smiles and giggles.  The lady at the till was also happy to see us.  Kaida got her Barbie and for being a sweet little girl, I bought Kenzie a baby chick with a necklace in it that she picked.  It was a good day for everyone.  My garage is clean, 2 little girls are happy and I have some dirty coats to wash and we will be back on track for the rest of the day!!

Report Card #2

Well here I am again, one proud Mama!!  Kenzie continues to love school, do her best, and learn new things everyday.  I hope that I am the kind of mom that will keep these excellent report cards forever so she can read them from Medical school and feel pride; but just in case they get lost here are the teachers comments:

Kenzie is a happy and eager participant in all of our circle time activities.  She listens and participates which has allowed her to master the skills.

Kenzie is making great progress in her early emergent reading skills.  She should be proud of everything that she has learned and mastered.  She is seeing and responding to print in the world around her.

Kenzie has developed a strong sense of numeracy to 20 and beyond.  She loves to talk about numbers bigger than 20.  Kenzie is able to think about problems quietly  and respond accurately.

Kenzie has very well controlled fine motor skills.  Her work is neatly done and she should be proud of it.

Kenzie is always happy to participate in Gym class.  She always tries her best!

Kenzie continues to grow and learn.  Her exuberance is contagious.  She gets all of us excited about the stuff we are learning and doing.

So there you have it!!!  She is sweet, happy and brilliant.  What more could a mama ask for?

Instead of cleats...

We went shopping on Wednesday to buy Kenzie some new soccer shin pads and some cleats.  If the snow ever melts and it warms past -15 soccer will begin!  Kenzie bought some great cleats that she claims make her super fast.  We have been witness to the very loud, yet super fast clickity clack of the cleats on my laminate floor.

I asked Kaida if she wanted to play soccer this year.  She replied very politely "No fank you, I'll just watch.  But I could use a new dress."  So we went to another store and Kaida bought a new dress that twirls so big when she jumps and spins. 

We can always try soccer next year!

Saskatchewan Fun!

This is my sweet Kaida out hunting for Magic Jewels! I stole the idea from a restaurants place mat and froze 5 ice cube trays of water coloured with food colouring. I called them Magic Jewels and we have been hiding and hunting them for days now. Kaida announced more than once that she is really good at this game "aren't I Mommy?' She is actually very good at finding the jewels that I hide throughout the yard, and she actually doesn't peek when I am hiding them.

This is one of the special Jewels!

She called this spot in the tree the really really tricky spot!

Here she is with her pail of Magic Jewels. I do believe this is the cheapest fun we have ever had. I also think they will someday write a song about how you know you are from Saskatchewan when your mom freezes water and tells you hunt for it in the back yard!!